So, I spent a couple hours with my friend Janna of Papercraft Miracles over the weekend going over her amazing products while our babies had a jam session and have I got some pretty treats to share with you! I couldn't get over each beautiful product as I browsed and perused through all of her handcrafted goods- I left with a pile of my own and a wishlist a dozen deep... I want it all! And, I'm pretty sure you will, too, after seeing her amazing products below. Let's get this show on the road, shall we?
Q. Who are you?
A. Janna Willoughby-Lohr of Papercraft Miracles
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| Hanging out in Janna's studio room while she preps some Valentine's workshop mini books |
Q. What do you do?
A. Create handmade paper & books, custom works, book layout & design, consulting & workshops.
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| Stitched mini books, approximately 4"x4" and 4"x5" each. Each product comes signed by artist. |
Q. When and how did you start your business?
A. I conceived of the idea and started training &learning in 2002 but the full business wasn't up & running until 2013.
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| Custom wedding album, pages individually handled to add silver edging. |
Q. What are your favorite things about your own products?
A. They make people reflect on their lives & feel happy. Almost everyone has a smile on their faces after seeing them.
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| Daydream Reminders, approx. 2"x4" each with handmade paper covers. Inside images by artist have a beautiful meditation to remind you to live fully. I keep mine in my car to look at whenever I'm stressed and need a reminder to go get lost ;) |
Q. Do you have a favorite thing to make?
A. Paper! & really complex, structurally challenging books.
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| GORGEOUS books for sketching and writing. Approximately 9"x13". |
Q. What's the best part about running an art business?
A. Making people happy & knowing that so many of my customers buy the experience as opposed to just buying the product.
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| Decorative Star Books available in Large (above) and Small (below) sizes. |
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| Small Decorative Star Book, opens like above Large version. |
Q. How does your business give back or serve your community?
A. P.M. supports several organizations, for example 10% of proceeds from all rainbow products is donated to G.L.Y.S. We are also a corporate sponsor of the Western New York Book Arts Center.
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| Small notebook, approximately 4"x4". |
Q. What's new and exciting for the business?
A. Running full-time instead of part-time. Finally getting a new, shopable website, loads more workshops, including monthly open bookbinding studios at W.N.Y.B.A.C. Also, a new state of the art paper-making studio in 2016
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| Origami Star Books are approximately 3"x3" when closed and open to 6"x6". |
Q. What are your Papercraft Miracles goals?
A. To increase joy & positivity across the world. To bring other artists together to craft larger projects highlighting the strength of many.
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| Medium Sized Journal, perfect size (to me) at approximately 6"x9" |
Q. What do you wanna be when you grow up?
A. Wrinkly! Haha... well fulfilled & active. I hope to have my work in art galleries and my poems in textbooks. That would be pretty cool.
And now in her own words... from her Artist's Bio
Born on Mother's Day, I grew up mainly with my mother and my older brother. Divorce and peculiar happenstance led me to have a biological father and a legal father, both of whom are currently remarried and have other children. I have seven brothers and sisters but I am the only child between my birth mother and father. I created an artist's book called These Roots Go Deeper Than the Birth's Surface about my experiences being part of a nuclear family reaction. Here is an excerpt of the text: "I am scaling the center line, this middle link that binds with a love far stronger than what has never held my parents together." I truly believe that my unconventional family structure is what has led me to be so independent and multi-faceted, because I spent a lot of time in between three different families with three different sets of rules, and I had to learn to adapt quickly to changes in my life; to accept what came my way.
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| Jars o' Joy, mini jars full of 30 uplifting and honest meditations each. |
I have been writing poetry since I was five years old and was first published in Earth's Daughters (a nationally distributed women's publication) when I was just 16 years old. I graduated from Hutch Tech high school in 2000 with a Regents BioChemical Technology degree. From there, I applied for and received a creative writing scholarship from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC. I have been attending Warren Wilson for four years and will graduate in May with a BA in Integrative Studies: Entrepreneurial Creative Business Arts; a major that I designed to fit my goals in life. I have been very artistic since I was a little tiny girl, but since I attended a technical high school that didn't offer any creative arts classes, I had become distanced from my love for creativity. When I arrived at college I was flooded with a tremendous creative energy and I knew that I needed to "make stuff" although I wasn't sure what.
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| Forest Wisdom, a new creation measuring approximately 3"x3". Perfect for any gnome or fairy garden. |
I proceeded to take several studio art classes including printmaking, papermaking and bookforms. I also took several music classes to learn to play the guitar and the piano. Over the past four years I have created and displayed artworks ranging from drawings and paintings, to handmade paper and books, to woodcut prints and monoprints, and photography. I have also written countless poems and have begun work on an autobiographical book of poems called Skin and Stories Stretch to Cover Bones and These Beliefs: Autobiography of a Middleman. In addition to writing poems and making art, I have also branched out into several different musical forms including folk guitar and political hip-hop rhyming. I often perform "raps" at open mic nights and poetry slams and this is one of my favorite ways to reach out to people.
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| One of her latest undertakings, beautiful, hand-marbled paper measuring approximately 8"x12". I brought home 3 for decorating my house and matting portraits. They're simply amazing!
I have created reachforthestars papercraft miracles as a way to make a living doing what I love; creating unique works of art. I have known for a long time that being a starving artist is typical and being a profitable artist is not, and creating my business venture while I am still in college lets me get a head start into the realm of the profitable artist. So far everything in my life has worked out how it should; like puzzle pieces falling into place. I hope to inspire people from all walks of life, especially women. In today's society there is a lot of pressure on women to be strong and assertive yet the media continues to broadcast the message that being aesthetically pleasing is "the way to the top!" I strive to help people see the beauty that a human soul possesses, no matter what it's dress size its body is.
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| Handmade papers made out of willow-bark and pigment (left) and ref clay mud to create hemp colors (right)
Always remember that everything is a miracle! Especially life.
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| Coffee Mug Books, one of the coolest concepts I've recently seen! Cream colored pages for an Americana and dark covered for a black coffee. The wisps on top are the coffee steam |
Follow Janna & Papercraft Miracles on Instagram and Facebook.
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| Decorative mini book measures approximately 2"x3" on cover |
And seriously, guys, go buy some of this stuff; it really is incredible!
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| Cloth Books for babies, approximately 5"x5". Hand-stitched and machine washable. |
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